Within earshot of America’s busiest seaport, the world’s first assembly line dedicated to the production of all-electric heavy duty trucks rolled out its first rig Tuesday in Harbor City.

The zero-emission truck, which will haul cargo containers from local marine terminals to area rail yards, is the first of 25 being built by a team of about 50 line workers, engineers and craftsmen at the Balqon Corp. factory.

The plant, one of California’s few remaining auto production lines, represents a small but growing field of “green” industries that economists and others believe may help pull the Golden State out of a deepening global recession in years to come.

“This is the kind of technology that we’ll need to begin moving people away from the (dependence) on foreign oil and into cleaner modes of transportation,” said Balwinder Samra, Balqon’s CEO.

Founded by a team of Southern California engineers, Balqon in 2008 produced the world’s first all-electric truck capable of pulling the 60,000-pound containers universally used by ocean carriers, rail companies and trucking firms to transport consumer goods.

The rig hits top speeds of about 40 mph, takes roughly three hours to fully charge and has a range of 30 to 70 miles, depending on the load. The range makes it ideal for the 8- to 10-mile round-trip runs local truckers make several times daily from San Pedro Bay docks to nearby rail yards.

Balqon plans to improve truck range in coming months by installing lithium batteries, which can double the range as well as battery life span – from five to 10 years.

And because the rig shuts off while stopped – which is how most truckers spend nearly half their shift waiting at terminal gates or in traffic – Balqon trucks provide significant fuel savings.

The company has set goals of building about 2,000 trucks – or 8 percent – of the local drayage truck fleet in coming years.

A prototype was built in 2008 by Balqon’s team of eight engineers, with $500,000 in seed money from the Port of Los Angeles and the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Tuesday that Balqon is helping to lay the foundation for future “green collar” industries throughout the region.

“Bringing them to L.A. represents a giant leap in our effort to develop the clean technology industry of tomorrow,” Villaraigosa said.

Samra said vehicles will initially sell for $190,000, slightly cheaper than new low-emission natural gas trucks but more than the $110,000 price tag for a new diesel. But he expects that as production increases, prices will drop significantly.

And with wild fluctuations in fuel prices, Samra argues that during the truck’s life span, its higher purchase price will be offset by fuel cost savings.

For example, current diesel prices mean a driver spends roughly 40 to 45 cents per mile, while electric charging costs equate to less than 20 cents per mile with an electric truck.

But there’s another – perhaps more important – factor driving investment in all-electric rigs, and that’s the zero-emission benefits.

Communities in and around the twin ports suffer from some of the nation’s poorest air quality, which the Environmental Protection Agency blames on diesel soot emitted by the trucks, trains, ships and cargo-handling equipment moving freight.

By switching to electric transportation models, diesel emissions – and the well-documented health problems caused by the soot – can be dramatically reduced.

Of course, electric vehicles are not without their critics.

Questions of reliability, range, purchase cost and torque have hounded electric vehicles since they first rolled off assembly lines in the late 1800s.

Samra counters critics by pointing out the various technologies where battery power has been successfully used for decades, including in submarines, trains, airport shuttles and cranes.

“Electric power has a proven track record, but people have always been a little skeptical because of issues of range and having to recharge,” Samra said. “But these trucks are perfect for these short-haul applications, where you need to go maybe 60 or 70 miles in a shift. And given the air quality problems here and these trucks having no pollution, it’s a perfect fit.”